Associates
Gianluca Marcotullio
Last Updated on Monday, 12 March 2012 19:22
Gianluca Marcotullio: Associate Consultant
PhD, MSc Eng (Mech)
Gianluca has an engineering background and a few years experience in the energy and utilities field. He graduate in Dec 2011 with a Ph.D. from Delft University of Technology (NL). His in-depth knowledge in the field of process development for new generation biorefineries, with a particular focus on furfural chemistry and technology is published in his thesis "The Chemistry And Technology Of Furfural For Modern Lignocellulose-Feedstock Biorefineries (Furfural, the sleeping beauty)". Gianluca has authored and co-authored several scientific publications related to the fractionation of biomass via thermo-chemical processes, and especially on the mechanism of furfural formation from pentoses in dilute aqueous solutions. He is the inventor of a novel process for the production of furfural (patent application NL 2005588, US 12/944,403) and he has worked for the European FP6 "Biosynergy" researach project.
He is presently researcher and design engineer at SEA Servizi Energia e Ambiente srl (Italy) and associate consultant at DalinYebo.
Gianluca's specialist field of knowledge covers a broad spectrum of the chemistry and technology of sugars dehydration into furans, innovative biomass technologies, heat and power production, process engineering and economics, engineering thermodynamics, and energy efficiency.
Ron Chapman
Last Updated on Tuesday, 11 January 2011 11:50
Ron ChapmanConsultant, Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering; P.E.
Ron then began a career with the Chemicals Division of the Quaker Oats Company in 1973 as a project engineer at the Furfural and Furfuryl Alcohol production facility in Omaha, Nebraska.
In 1975 Ron was promoted to maintenance manager and in 1981 assumed the boiler plant manager position. In 1986 he began managing production units including both the Furfural and Furfuryl Alcohol operations.
He retired in 2000 after having served as the Manufacturing Superintendant with responsibilities for all operations and support functions.
After retiring, he was retained as a maintenance management consultant and interim maintenance manager for Penn Specialty Chemical's Memphis, Tennessee plant from 2000 - 2001.
Since May 2002, Ron has been an associate consultant to DalinYebo subsidiary International Furan Technology (Pty) Ltd, in South Africa, assisting with plant and digester design related to the novel SupraYield and furfural by-products technology.
Ron maintains his Stationary Engineer's license for the operation of high pressure boilers for the city of Omaha, Nebraska and has held a Professional Engineer's license for the State of Nebraska.
Project responsibilities, assignments and experience have included stoker fired boiler operations, chemical production management, ISO 9000 systems, Process Safety Management procedures, employee safety, health and environmental regulatory issues, and corn cob/corn stover collection development. Ron served as the corporate year 2000 Y2K Project Manager. He independently developed a successful and profitable waste boiler ash sales arrangement, which significantly reduced landfill costs.
Specialties: Over 27 years of operations management of a Furfural and Furfuryl Alcohol plant. Maintenance techniques/procedures. Maintenance management. Re-design and optimisation of the rotary digester internal components. Safety, health and environmental issues. Optimisation of process yields. ISO-9002 systems.
